Susan Doty nonetheless remembers vividly her first Communion. She’d mistakenly eaten a chunk of chocolate earlier than the sacrament and felt sure God would punish her as she consumed the consecrated host. The 81-year-old recollects spending the rest of Mass thanking Jesus for being merciful.
Over the following 75 years, Doty mentioned, she’s participated within the Liturgy of the Eucharist with out misery — till earlier this month.
The Colorado Catholic was one in every of two ladies who say a priest denied them Communion once they wore rainbow masks to a Feb. 11 Mass at All Souls Parish in Englewood, a metropolis simply south of Denver.
“I used to be attempting to not cry as I walked again to my pew,” Doty instructed NCR. “I could not consider what simply occurred.”
Doty — a former Regis College professor who holds a doctorate in Scripture and a grasp’s diploma in theology — mentioned the rainbow face coverings had been meant “to point out empathy and compassion” for Maggie Barton, who the Denver Archdiocese fired from her instructing job final month at All Souls College after studying she was in a same-sex relationship.
“Our function was to not be disruptive in any approach as a result of it is the Mass,” mentioned Doty. “However after I pulled down my masks and held out my arms for Communion, the priest shook his head ‘no.’ “
The priest was All Souls’ parochial, Doty mentioned.
NCR contacted the parish for remark and was directed to the archdiocese. In response to a number of questions, Kelly Clark, archdiocesan spokesperson, emailed NCR a press release beforehand shared with secular information retailers:
Anybody who considers themselves a lifelong Catholic is aware of that the communion line isn’t the place for any political assertion, particularly when such statements spotlight that the individual isn’t in communion with Christ If anybody believes they had been wrongly denied communion, we encourage them to talk to the pastor of their church who, not like secular media, is best geared up to reply their issues and assist them be introduced again into communion.
Canon 912 of the church’s Code of Canon Legislation states that “any baptized individual not prohibited by regulation can and have to be admitted to holy Communion.” Canon 915 says these “obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin are to not be admitted to holy Communion.”
Elizabeth Sweeny Block, an affiliate professor of Christian ethics at St. Louis College, believes carrying a rainbow masks was “a quiet, respectful type of solidarity with Maggie Barton.”
“It’s troublesome to see how one may classify the carrying of masks on this one event as ‘obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin,’ ” mentioned Block, who’s writing a guide on conscience, social sin and ethical company. “If of their consciences these mask-wearing ladies believed they had been being trustworthy to their relationship with God, how can anybody argue in any other case? How did the priest know their intentions? There isn’t a prohibition in opposition to carrying rainbow apparel at Mass.”
‘When did we change into so good that we will choose others’ faithfulness and skill to obtain the Eucharist?’
—Elizabeth Sweeny Block
Finally, “the Eucharist ought to by no means be weaponized — interval,” Block mentioned. “When did we change into so good that we will choose others’ faithfulness and skill to obtain the Eucharist? The Eucharist unifies and heals.”
Most discussions round denying Communion lately have been associated to Catholic politicians who publicly affirm authorized abortion, with some bishops deciding to withhold the sacrament from some folks. such people can’t obtain the sacrament.
Whether or not it includes a pro-choice politician or ladies supporting a fired instructor, “denial of Communion disrespects the individual’s conscience, which the church teaches is sacred and inviolable,” Block mentioned.
Doty, Jill Moore, 64; Cindy Grubenhoff, 48; and Sally Odenheimer, 71, wore masks with multicolored horizontal stripes to the Mass at All Souls Church. Odenheimer had invited the chums to put on LGBTQ-supportive apparel to the Mass after she’d realized of Barton’s firing.
Their intention, mentioned Doty, was to assist Barton and members of the parish and faculty who’ve rallied across the instructor.
“We needed them to know they weren’t alone, that we had been there with them,” she mentioned.
Barton taught know-how at All Souls for the previous six years and mentioned she misplaced her job Jan. 26 after she was instructed the Denver Archdiocese — headed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila — had obtained a photograph of her kissing a lady, in keeping with The Denver Put up.
An announcement issued by the archdiocese mentioned it was essential to “conclude the instructor’s employment as a result of she didn’t honor the commitments she agreed to in her contract.”
All academics within the archdiocese’s faculties signal a contract in the beginning of every 12 months, mentioned the assertion, and in it they pledge to personally exemplify “the traits of Catholic dwelling,” which incorporates, “refraining from taking any public place or conducting himself or herself in a fashion that’s opposite to the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
Block mentioned Catholic faculties usually are effectively inside their authorized rights to terminate academics whose behaviors seem to violate church instructing.
“It’s clear that Catholic faculties decide and select, although, focusing totally on sexuality and gender,” she mentioned. “Morally, that is extremely problematic. The message it sends to our youngsters is that we don’t welcome the marginalized; as a substitute, we proceed to discriminate in opposition to and exclude anybody who differs from us.”
Block mentioned it additionally teaches youngsters that crucial factor about an individual is their sexual orientation. “Barton taught at this faculty for six years, a considerable size of time,” she mentioned. “To fireplace her renders unimportant the products of group relationship, and solidarity that must be entrance and heart in a Catholic faculty.”
A couple of years in the past, Aquila authorised tips for Denver Catholic faculties that handle sexual orientation and gender id. It is among the most far-reaching such paperwork of the greater than 30 authorised by dioceses throughout america, and in contrast to most others it addresses same-sex relationships intimately.
Enrolling a baby of a same-sex couple at a Catholic faculty “is more likely to result in intractable conflicts,” says the Denver doc. If a baby of a same-sex couple is enrolled, the “faculty ought to clarify that it might acknowledge a pair that may be a mom and a father for the kid, however can’t acknowledge ‘two moms’ or ‘two fathers’ as a household construction.”
Doty mentioned she donned the rainbow masks not solely to assist Barton and her allies, but in addition to honor her late brother, who was homosexual.
“I did this partially for Timmy; he suffered quite a bit as a result of he was homosexual and Catholic,” mentioned Doty, including she hopes Aquila would possibly “rethink his perspective” about LGBTQ folks “due to all of the suggestions round this incident.”
“I do not know if that is attainable,” she mentioned. “However my hope endures.”
